


You Don't Have To Run

by AbschaumNo1



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, and ended in sweet things thank god, because bruce deserves all the sweet things, clint thinks so too, filed under thoughts that kind of ran away from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 16:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1654397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbschaumNo1/pseuds/AbschaumNo1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was on a bus to Chicago when he realised that he was being followed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Don't Have To Run

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I'm spending my evening on a bus back home from London, and have nothing better to do than thinking...

He was on a bus towards Chicago, when he realised that he was being followed. The guy on his tail was good, there was no doubt about that, but he wouldn't have been able to escape for so long, if he'd been bad at spotting things like this. The man was wearing sunglasses and had a nondescript black hoodie pulled over a white t-shirt and blue jeans that were just as plain. All in all he was the type one saw and forgot.

That was until Bruce had seen his duffel bag. It would have looked completely ordinary if it hadn't been for its very particular shade of purple it was. When the bus reached Chicago he disappeared into the crowd and made very sure that he wasn't followed. He hid in the masses for a few days before he rented a car and drove west.

When he got on another bus in Denver the guy and the duffel bag where there again.

He tried to escape him a few times more, and ended up as far from the Canadian border as possible. In fact, he was almost beginning to think about moving towards Brazil and the rainforest instead, but he wasn't quite feeling like he could return there yet. He still hadn't managed to shake off the guy, and he could feel a certain other guy in his head get increasingly impatient with him. He hadn't been particularly patient with him in the first place, but now he seemed on the brink of wanting to smash Bruce's head in because he still didn't seem to get it.

In the end Bruce decided to stop running. He just had to accept that this particular shadow wouldn't let him go. Just like the Hulk this guy was here to stay.

He wasn't particularly surprised when Clint joined him at his table in a diner, a cheeky grin on his face, and asking, “You mind if I join you?”

He gave the other man a slightly grim smile. “Seeing how you followed me here all the way from New York, I don't think I can stop you.”

“If you told me to leave I would go,” Clint said earnestly, as he sat down. “I followed you because I care about you, and because I wanted to talk this through with you, once you had time to think about it.”

“What is there to talk or even think about, Clint?” Bruce asked. He rubbed his temple. “I'm a monster, I can't stay in one place. The othe guy is a part of me, and you know that if I stay something will happen sooner or later, I just don't want to hurt anyone.” The words 'I don't what to hurt you.' remained unspoken, but Bruce could see that Clint had understood.

The archer reached out to put his hand on Bruce's. “I know that. But I also know that the Hulk wouldn't want to hurt us either. He saved Tony back that first time, hell he saved all of us several times now. We'd have to fuck up pretty spectacularly for him to hurt us.”

“Can you really know that?” Bruce looked down at their hands and he wanted to believe Clint, but he couldn't, and he could feel the other guy rage in his head, not against Clint, but against Bruce, because Bruce was once again running away from the best thing in his life.

“Yes, I can,” Clint replied, conviction clear in his voice, “Because I believe in you, and I believe in the Hulk. And that's why you're stuck with me. And the others believe as well.”

Bruce looked at him and smiled. “I don't deserve you.”

Clint grinned back at him. “Nah, I think that whatever it was that you did in your last life, you should do it again, because I think we make a pretty good pair.”

Bruce moved his hand so he could intertwine their fingers. “It could have been worse, I guess.”

“Oh yes, it could.”

For a moment they just sat there, smiling at each other and Bruce could almost hear the other guy rumble in his head in agreement, until the agreement turned into a rumbled question, and Bruce said, “I think we should go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://abschaumno1.tumblr.com).


End file.
